Boxers enter the ring knowing the risks, but also know there is a ref in there that will call it off if theyre taking too much damage. This has been a standard for over a dozen years now at minimum. Why should a boxer wanting to provide for their family have to compete in a sport where they cant rely on a competent ref to save them before they drown. I must say, willing to accept more boxer deaths, comas, handicaps, ect, so you can get more brutal fights and more concrete finishes, is somewhat bizarre to me. Saying 'its a dangerous sport' is a meaningless statement in this context Yup, its a dangerous sport. So that means... make it... magnitudes more dangerous?
And why should I even get out of bed in the morning? This content is protected Because the danger is the appeal.
The danger is already there in boxing. Given the stakes, its not really necessary to gluttonize it. Theres a beautiful and reasonable median to be had, where one can have a sport thats still beautifully violent, and still letting boxers have a profession where they can rely on and expect a ref to not let them die.
The stoppage was fine, Takam wasn't able to defend himself, there's quick stoppages like Froch/Groves 1 but this wasn't anything like that. I rewatched the stoppage and Joyce threw 34 unanswered punches on Takam and even before that Takam had taken a hell of a lot of punches while firing back. Takam didn't throw a single punch for 26 seconds while getting punched again and again. Boxers need to be protected sometimes from their own bravery and it's not just the boxer but the sport of boxing. I recall a time when there were serious calls in the mainstream media to ban boxing, because we had too many high profile cases of boxers dying or getting seriously hurt. The sport needs to be as safe as it can be, we all love a warrior and a war but there needs to be limits to protect boxers and the sport itself. US fans bemoan Brit stoppages but then you didn't have Watson and McClellan happen, or Spencer Oliver who was a rising star, you guys were lucky enough to avoid really high profile deaths/injuries in boxing and the serious campaign to see the sport banned that we did in the UK. We had the British medical association call for a ban, you had doctors on mainstream TV on the news at prime time talking about banning the sport. It was even discussed in Parliament.
Sometimes people need to be protected from themselves. The government should probably make alcohol and cigarettes illegal then. People could get sick.
Which is why refs are there to save them from themselves and governments have worked to prevent people from smoking. They both have the freedom to choose to risk their lives but even then there's measures in place to protect both from themselves without infringing on their freedom of choice.
